Shades of Blue
by Lovely Spell
Summary: Shikamaru understands that they're cycles, both life and the weather. shikaxnaruxshika slow romance


Alright this is a first for me. I've never written a shikaxnaruxshika story. I've read like two so I'm sorry if this is cliche in anyway or if it sounds oddly familiar! Anywhoo, I was watching the movie Surf's Up and I heard the sentence "shade of blue" or something along those lines and this story popped into my head.

It's my first so be kind or be mean, just leave me a review to let me know you read it.

**warning: shonen ai and I bring Hayate back from the dead.**

**I do not own Naruto series/manga. **

* * *

Shikamaru sat alone under a lone tree that would have provided more than adequate shade had it not been a rainy day. The cold, dark atmosphere was perfect as it should be for all funerals. This rain wouldn't last forever, but for the day it seemed like it would last a bit too long.

Everyone had made their way early to say good bye to a friend. Everyone except Shikamaru. He decided to mourn in a different way, by not mourning at all. He instead spent his day staring up at the greying blue that covered the precious white clouds.

Sasuke had died once to the people of this village. He'd died as a traitor. He returned and died once more. This time he died as a hero, a true shinobi of Konoha.

Shikamaru couldn't say that he didn't feel guilty for not being more down. He really couldn't help thinking of other things that would come from this death. The dead would remain dead mourned or not, but the living, those had to live on. So today under the misty rain and the large rare oak tree he thought mainly of Naruto.

--

"Shikamaru, you weren't at the funeral." Naruto walked up to his usual teammate.

Shikamaru didn't bother to look away from the clouds that would soon allow the sky to change to a different shade of blue.

"Let me guess. It was too troublesome." Naruto took a seat on the soft muddy grass covered ground. "No, I know you." Naruto made as if to continue, but instead stopped and followed Shikamaru's line of vision after he didn't answer for a while.

"What are you staring at?" Naruto tried to find the beauty, but all he could see was a murky, muted sky.

"You need to look and see. To really be able to see you need to stop talking." Shikamaru reached out and made Naruto lean against the tree in the same lazy fashion.

Naruto watched as the clouds drifted and parted. With each move the sky seemed to brighten. With each cold wind the rain seemed to let up a bit. Even though the cold lingered and the water seeping through the seat of his pants made him uncomfortable he couldn't help but keep staring at the shades of blue.

After what could have been hours Naruto cleared his throat. "It's beautiful."

"Isn't it?" Shikamaru sat up and readied himself to stand up.

"Please don't leave. I really don't want to see the others just yet." Naruto reached his hand out to touch Shikamaru's.

Shikamaru turned and looked at Naruto's pleading face. "Lets go to my house. We can sit on the roof." With that they took off towards the outskirts of town.

--

"You can change into this." Naruto had followed Shikamaru into the Nara home and into his friend's room. Naruto took the offered nin pants. Without wasting any time both undressed and redressed in minutes.

Shikamaru simply walked outside and assumed Naruto was following. In a single bound he was on the roof and laying on the only spot that wasn't under the cover of the encroaching trees. Naruto laid down and crossed his hands under his head. Shikamaru smiled and did the same.

There was no more rain, but the sky was still dark. It might have been holding back its tears.

"Naruto," Shikamaru didn't need to look to see that he had Naruto's attention. "can you tell that the sky still has rain for us?"

"What do you mean?"

Shikamaru raised his body and rested his weight on his palms. "Even though some time has passed and the sky has lightened to a dark blue instead of grey the clouds are still heavy with rain."

"Okay I can see that. Will it rain again?"

"I hope so."

"Why? Don't you like the bright sky and white clouds best?"

Shikamaru looked over at Naruto's unusually dead eyes. "If the sky doesn't rain then the darkness will never leave. If that pain stays then I'll never see the shade of blue I love so much."

Naruto nodded and smiled sadly at his friend.

--

Even though the day was warm and the sky was cloud filled Shikamaru wasn't out staring and contemplating. Instead he was in the mission room giving out scrolls and taking mission reports.

"I think we should go eat after this hoard dies down." Iruka was sitting next to Shikamaru and trying to hold his rumbling stomach in check.

"Sounds like a good idea. I've been here since the morning." Shikamaru rubbed his vest covered stomach.

"Me too. Tsunade-sama had me doing--"

"Why aren't you two working?" Tsunade dropped a stack of mission reports on the table space between both chunin.

"Hai." Iruka dropped his head on the desk when his stomach growled again.

"Better yet you two take off. I'll bring in Anko and Naruto." Tsunade walked away and didn't hear the groan that irrupted when the two names were said.

"We better hide the reports that are already filed in order." Iruka nodded quickly and set out to find a box before the hurricane and tornado arrived.

Their united efforts hid half of said reports just in time.

"Neh, Anko can you believe it?!" Naruto shoved Anko playfully.

"Ah, Naruto! Don't push me!" Anko shoved back and made Naruto push a stack of papers off of Shikamaru's side of the mission desk.

"See what you did!" Naruto gathered the papers quickly off of the ground and placed them back on the desk in a less than neat pile.

Shikamaru was just coming back with another box for his organized stack. "Naruto."

The hair stood up on Naruto's neck. He could feel a serious murderous intent going his way. He nervously turned around and expected to see Kakashi with what was left of his Icha Icha collection.

"Oh, hey Shikamaru." Shikamaru only took a deep breath and tried to keep his eyebrow from twitching.

Naruto smiled and Anko walked away to find Iruka to let him know they were there to take over.

"How's the sky today?"

"Umm, brighter." Naruto smiled and busied his hands by straightening the pile of papers he'd just dropped.

"I can see it's almost at the right shade for cloud watching." Shikamaru looked into Naruto's dodger blue eyes that no longer looked as burdened and tired. "Almost." He then looked out of the window and saw that the sun's rays were quickly drying up the rain from the previous week.

"Yeah." Naruto rubbed the back of his head and tried to smile again. "So, do you want to eat some ramen?"

Shikamaru smiled back. He kept his nervous hands in his pockets and his face aloof. "You have a shift."

"Oh, right! Yeah, I know. I meant maybe after." Naruto's voice had a decrescendo and he steadily lost his confidence. Had he misunderstood?

"Sure. You're done at nine, right?" Shikamaru slipped the box onto the floor and his papers into it.

"Yeah nine." Naruto looked at the pile in the box. "I'll fix that."

Two voices joined in. "No! Don't!"

Naruto stared at Shikamaru and Iruka. "Okay I won't." The three laughed and soon Anko joined the group.

"What's so funny?"

"Our lack of organization skills." With that Naruto took Shikamaru's still warm seat and Anko followed into Iruka's vacant rolling chair.

"Ooh, pre-warmed." Anko giggled and Naruto joined in with a warm chuckle.

"I'll see you after your shift." Shikamaru walked away with Iruka at his side.

"Is there something going on between you and Naruto?" Iruka whispered and looked back over his shoulder to make sure Naruto wasn't listening. By now Naruto was sticking his finger into Anko's ear. It must have been previously licked because a resounding "Ew!" was heard through the room.

"I don't know." Iruka raised an accusing eyebrow at Shikamaru. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I don't know if Naruto understands."

"That always was his downfall." Iruka led the rest of the way to Ichiraku's in silence.

--

Naruto was comfortable on his couch. Shikamaru had brought over his Shogi set and was teaching Naruto how to play. It was hopeless.

"You know some days I just wish I could forget." Naruto moved a piece only to have Shikamaru shake his head and move it back.

"Forget what?"

"Everything that's bad. Forget everything that hurts and scars." Naruto moved again, but this time Shikamaru nodded approvingly.

"That's not how it works."

"I know. I just wish--."

"No, I mean you can't move the gold general back diagonally." Shikamaru removed Naruto's piece and moved it back to its original position.

"Oh," Naruto tried again and this time Shikamaru stayed silent. "Well, don't you want to get rid of those kinds of memories?"

"No." Shikamaru moved again.

"Oh." Naruto didn't speak again, but tried to move his pieces according to the rules.

It wasn't news, but Naruto lost, again.

"Naruto, I love the color blue. I love the clouds. I love the sky and its endless shades,"

Naruto wrinkled his forehead and wondered where this was leading.

"and if it weren't for those rainy days and snowy mornings I wouldn't be able to appreciate them. They're cycles, both life and the weather."

--

"Naruto isn't looking so good today." Iruka pointedly stared at the other end of the mission desk where Anko was doodling on Naruto's face.

"We stayed up late." Shikamaru didn't noticed the change on Iruka's face.

"I didn't know you and Naruto were sleeping together. If that's so then I need to talk to--"

"Nothing like that. For the last couple of months Naruto has been learning to play Shogi. He thought he'd finally mastered it so he called me over last night." Shikamaru didn't look any sleepier than he usually did.

"Oh, did you two stay up playing the night away?" Iruka smiled. "That must have been fun."

"No, it wasn't. Naruto refused to let me go until he beat me. I think we'd still be locked in his house if it weren't for the fact that when I fell asleep my face knocked my pieces off of the board and Naruto counted it as a forfeit."

Iruka joined in Shikamaru's lazy laugh. "That sounds like Naruto alright."

"Yeah he's something else." Naruto had woken up and on his forehead were the words "Anko's Bitch. I didn't know they had that kind of relationship." Shikamaru laughed and motioned to Naruto to look at his forehead.

"So, are you two getting along? It has been a while since your first date." Iruka accepted a late mission report and began to fill in the missing details.

"I don't know if we're dating. Sometimes it feels like we're just two guys hanging out, but then there are moments where he just--" Shikamaru looked over to Naruto who was now laughing merrily with Anko and trying to write on her face. He sighed and added, "I really don't know what Naruto is thinking, for once." Shikamaru placed his stack of finished reports into the filing cabinet behind them and the ordered stack into a box for safe keeping.

"Maybe you should clear it up before you invest your feelings."

Shikamaru chuckled almost bitterly. "Too late for that."

"All the more reason to straighten this out then." Iruka checked the clock and was grateful when he saw Genma striding in with Hayate in tow.

"I know. I'll try to. I don't think I want to lose Naruto over this though. I can't afford to lose him, not his friendship it means too much." Iruka stood up and Shikamaru followed.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto waved from across the room. "Are we on for dinner?" He yelled it loud enough to stop the usual hustle and bustle of the room. The normal ruckus was silenced as if somebody had stopped the time or maybe muted the entire room.

"Of course." That was the play button, the release and the cue that set off a room full of wolf whistles and blushing ladies.

"Great!" Naruto blushed and playfully pushed Anko away when she mocked him. He smiled at Shikamaru and hoped that that would clear up what he'd overheard.

--

"So," Naruto held the doorknob to his home with one hand and in the other he held his keys. "our sixth official date." Naruto pushed open the door and looked back towards Shikamaru who was wearing his best green dress shirt.

"Sure is." Shikamaru smiled and thought he had an idea where this was going.

"Do I get to--" Naruto grinned sheepishly and tried to word his request.

"I don't think we're ready for that." Shikamaru kept his hands in his pockets and a cigarette on his lips.

"Okay." Naruto smiled again, but this time he seemed a bit embarrassed. "Maybe next time?"

"It might take more than seven dates to bed me Naruto."

"Oh, I didn't mean that!" Naruto was still half way in his home. "I-I wanted a, um, I just realized we, never umm that we haven't kissed yet."

That caught Shikamaru off guard. He removed his cigarette, threw it on ground and crushed it with his foot. "I think my mouth probably tastes like an ashtray."

Naruto stepped outside again and faced Shikamaru. "I kinda like ashtrays." Naruto smiled and Shikamaru smiled back.

--

"I win!" Naruto jumped up with his victory signs held up high in each hand. He looked back towards Shikamaru who was smiling at him with the calmest smile he'd ever seen. "You let me win." Naruto added.

"Maybe." Shikamaru brushed the pieces in to their plastic containers and closed them tight.

"Hmm, maybe I'll beat you next time then." Naruto sat next to Shikamaru again and nudged his cheek with the tip of his nose.

"Maybe."

--

"Grey day for cloud watching." Naruto chuckled at his own little joke.

Shikamaru leaned further into the tree's trunk.

"It's so rainy and cold. I should have brought a blanket." Naruto watched the rain distort the fields ahead.

"What have I told you?" Shikamaru wrapped his arm around Naruto.

"I have to be silent to see." Naruto recited almost mechanically.

Shikamaru only nodded and began searching for an opening in the dark rain clouds.

Naruto finally tired after about an hour of silent watching. "It really is a bad day for cloud watching."

Shikamaru only chuckled as he turned to look at Naruto. "What are you talking about? All I see are clear skies ahead."

**Did you like it? (or should I start apologizing?)**


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